Strange Darling
"Strange Darling" will reward adventurous filmgoers with something they haven't seen before - just don't let others spoil it!
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I left my screening of “Strange Darling” (now in theaters) with a few things on my mind. I’m really glad I didn’t take that cute neighbor chick up on her offer of cocaine back in college. I’m also very glad I’m not currently dating. “Strange Darling” is better the less you know about it – so this review will be brief and vague.
We meet a man (Kyle Gallner) and a woman (Willa Fitzgerald) on a first date. They’re parked in a motel’s parking lot chatting, drinking cheap beer and cheaper whiskey, making out and debating whether they want to get a room. Suffice it to say they get that room and things get strange … like super-strange … and violent.
Half of this hook-up seeks assistance from “mountain people” couple Genevieve (Barbara Hershey) and Frederick (Ed Begley Jr.) after the one-night stand escalates into a day two consisting of a car chase and a shoot-out.
“Strange Darling” as written and directed by JT Mollner (this is his sophomore effort after the 2016 Western “Outlaws and Angels”) is broken into six chapters and an epilogue marked with title cards and told out of sequence. This disjointed timeline often heightens suspense, leaving the viewer disoriented thinking they know the lay of the land and using our preconceived notions against us.
Mollner’s script is sharp and it’s excellently acted by scream king Gallner, seasoned pros Hershey and Begley and especially Fitzgerald, who will be booking projects on the basis of this performance for years to come. Genre turns don’t often get awards consideration – hers most definitely should.
Mollner shrewdly employs known commodities in ways you wouldn’t expect. Actor Giovanni Ribisi serves as cinematographer on the picture (he previously shot music videos for Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi and his former brother-in-law Beck) and opted to shoot on 35mm film, which is cool even if it’s decidedly dorky that they drop a title card bragging about it at the beginning. It’s a good-looking movie that seems as if it could’ve been shot in the 1970s despite taking place in the late 2010s and were it not for the man’s modern truck and cell phones seen on screen. Jason Patric lends his voice as a True Crime Narrator and Keith Carradine does backing vocals on Z Berg’s killer cover of Nazareth’s “Love Hurts.” (Berg’s entire soundtrack album is actually pretty awesome and was listened to by yours truly while writing this review.)
“Strange Darling” is an erotic horror-thriller that won’t be for all audiences, but adventurous filmgoers will be rewarded by something they haven’t seen before should they give it a spin.